Normal Life
by BrokenChosenofEva
Summary: Normal Life arc of the Pilot's Table Drabble series. The girls talk about Asuka and Shinji.
1. Chapter 1

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

_Pilot's Table_

By D.A.

Beta-ed by Zephyrus Genesis

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Title: Rooftop Chat

Prompt: Set 1 / Prompt 21 (Moonlight)

Word Count: 1600+

Rating: k+

Summary: Hikari and Asuka chat on the roof about two of the stooges.

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or anything connected to it.

Notes: Well, this is my first attempt at the Fifty one-shot challenge. I'm not taking it as an official challenge, but more of a personal challenge to see if I can do it, and to help me improve my writing. This is set in an AU where Third Impact is avoided.

Part one of the "Normal Life" Arc. Just a few small edits from the original version.

_04-20-2013: After writing Just Breath and Things You Miss I decided to go back and organize Pilot's Table into story arcs, instead of just letting it go in the order I wrote them. Hopefully, it doesn't end up as much of a headache to do as I think..._

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"Something positive… Right."

Hikari looked over as her friend made a rather un-lady-like snort. The tempermental red-head had been surprisingly quiet the last few minutes while they waited for Kodama, in one of her rare generous moods, to finish cooking dinner. As they had been waiting, Hikari had tired of watching Asuka play her game system and, truth be told, so had Asuka. So they'd gone to the roof and Asuka had decided to show her intelligence and pass the time by pointing out and correctly naming every constellation they could find in Tokyo-3's night sky.

"Are you talking about the project Ms. Katsuragi gave you and the other Pilots?" Hikari asked, leaning against the railing around the roof with Asuka as she watched the full moon.

"Of all the hair-brained things that woman has ever come up with," Asuka huffed, spinning around and leaning back against the railing a couple feet away, "This has to be one of the stupidest."

"It can't be that hard can it? I mean, you've know Ikari for almost two years. You've lived with him almost that long too…" Hikari mutter the last sentence before continuing in a normal voice, "And you've known Ayanami just as long."

"Wondergirl isn't a problem. She's… different than when I first got here. She stopped being the commander's doll when he and Shinji had that big fight a while back, and she's… bearable to be around now."

Hikari nods, partly to show she's listening and partly because she agrees. Rei had changed. She had started to reach out to others about a year ago, which Hikari supposed is when Shinji had had his fight with his father. No one would tell her what happened, but she'd heard from Touji that Shinji's father wasn't commander anymore, just not why he wasn't commander. She supposed it would be a secret she'd find out only if she ever joined Nerv, which she doubted.

"But Idiot Shinji… He's a pervert like the other stooges." Asuka sighs, half frustration and half amusement, "He's spineless, and apologizes too much, and is totally whipped. He's a coward and a poor excuse for a male."

"But…" Hikari prompts, feeling Asuka's hesitation.

Asuka frowns, the expression on her face saying she's trying to decide what to say, or whether she wants to actually say anything at all.

"But… really, if you watch closely, he isn't…" she pauses and growls low in her throat, "He isn't really spineless, he just… doesn't like fighting. He might apologize too much and seem like a coward, but… he isn't a coward. No one can call him that after how he stood up to his father and stopped-"

"Stopped what?" Hikari asks. She knows it might close Asuka back up on the topic of Shinji, but she is almost dying to know what happened to change the once timid boy into a more confident, if still overly shy, young man. An event which seemed to change everyone else connected to Nerv that she knew.

"Classified, internal Nerv business," Asuka smiles apologetically, still slightly surprising even after almost a year, "You know how it is."

"That's alright," Hikari sighs, "I guess I'm used to it, since Touji joined Nerv as a Pilot."

Asuka grins, and in the pale moonlight looks like a tigress ready to pounce on its prey.

"How _is_ your stooge doing, by the way? Not trying anything perverted is he?"

"Asuka?!" Hikari ducks her head as she blushes, "I've told you: he's not like that with me!"

"So? He's still a stooge." Asuka states matter-of-factly, though the slight smile shows she's teasing.

"What about _your_ stooge?" Hikari grins back, going on the offensive, "You were just telling me he wasn't all that bad."

"I was not." Asuka sniffs indignantly, "I was simply pointing out how he had changed. Just like Rei's changed and… and I've changed."

Asuka looks out at the slowly rising moon as Hikari waits for her overly moody friend to continue, knowing you don't push Asuka when it comes to emotional things, especially when the emotions concern Shinji.

"I realized… he's stronger than I thought. Maybe… maybe stronger than me." Asuka smirks half-heartedly, "I know I'm always calling him the Invincible Shinji, but sometimes he really is."

"Like how Touji may seem like a jerk all the time, but he isn't really." Asuka snorts, but Hikari continues, "Asuka, if you didn't egg him on so much, you two might actually get along."

Asuka sighed and half turned to face her friend, her expression calm and a little amused.

"What makes you think we aren't getting along?"

"But you're always fighting and arguing!"

"But I don't smack him on occasion like I used to. And you don't have to restrain him from trying to take me on." Asuka points out, smirking, and Hikari realizes she's right. They sometimes even smile when they're tearing into each other with their insults.

"You're just playing?" she sounds dubious, frowning at Asuka with just a touch of confusion.

"Mostly." Asuka shrugs, "Sometimes we aren't, but not when you or Shinji are nearby."

"Why?"

"You're my best friend, Hikari. And before Rei stopped being a doll and Shinji grew a spine, you were my only friend." Asuka admits, sighing, "Touji and I made an agreement a few months after Shinji stopped his dad. I would tone it down around you, and he'd do the same when around Shinji."

"Shinji?" Hikari asked, and Asuka nodded.

"Shinji doesn't like Touji egging me on any more than you like me pissing off Touji," Asuka smirked, "Idiot thought I wasn't close enough to hear him telling Touji to lay off his insults."

Hikari and Asuka share a chuckle. Hikari knew, however, from some of her chats with Touji, that Shinji tended to let Asuka hear him when he was displaying his spine. Touji had said Shinji knows very well how good Asuka's hearing is, all the stooges do. All that was secondary, however, to what Hikari wanted to hear Asuka say.

"Asuka, do you really think he's as bad as you try and make him out to be?"

Asuka stills, facing the full moon, but her eyes are distant as she again seems to be debating internally. Finally, she murmurs something to quiet for Hikari to hear.

"Asuka?"

"I said no, he's not really that bad…" Asuka turns away from Hikari, arms crossed as she leans her side against the railing.

"So? What are some of his good points then? You can tell me, it's not like I'm gonna try and steal him." Hikari prods, trying for a bit of humor.

Asuka snorts, then sighs, resigned.

"He watches the moon with me."

"Huh?"

Asuka spins to face the rising moon, a faint smile on her face.

"He watches the moon rise with me." Asuka looks over at her long time friend, frowning slightly, "Not long after he stood up to his father, Unit-Two started to develop problems in its Bio-components. So did Unit-Zero, but at the time I didn't hear the reports on Zero, just the ones for my Unit-Two. All I could think about was my whole world was falling apart along with my Eva."

"Because Eva was your life." Hikari whispers. Asuka nodded slowly.

"I was sure it was going to be the end of me. I spent a lot of time in my room, or out on the balcony watching the stars and moon. When I wasn't pitching a fit, anyways." Asuka's expression faded from a frown to a slight smile, "But he just weathered it. Weathered me. He'd wait in the kitchen until I came out hungry and would make whatever I asked for."

"How sweet!" Hikari's voice was quiet, but the faint note of envy was still there. _I wish Touji would cook a lunch for me one time. _Asuka continued as if Hikari hadn't spoken.

"Sometimes at night I'd go outside on the balcony and stargaze. When I'd turn to go back in, I'd spot him ducking down the hall. Somehow, he'd know when I got up, and would watch from to door while I was outside."

Asuka smiled, and this time Hikari contained her comment and waited for her friend to continue.

"After the third time, I got tired of feeling like he was spying on me and told him to come outside with me or stay in bed." Asuka chuckled, "After babbling for a bit, he walked out and leaned against the railing beside me, just a couple feet away. After that he always stood nearby and watched the moon with me."

"He never talked?" Hikari asked.

"Just once, when I caught him staring at me."

"What did he say?"

"I demanded to know why he was staring, and he said he hadn't realize how beautiful I was in the moonlight."

"That's so romantic." Hikari said, and Asuka snorted.

"It was the corniest thing I'd heard since college back in Germany, and I told him so." Asuka chuckled, "He snorted, _snorted_, at me and said: I'm not a frat boy."

Hikari's jaw dropped open, and she stared at Asuka.

"That's what I did." Asuka nodded, "Then I just started chuckling, and he joined in."

"Hey! Pigtail and Firebrand! Dinner's finished!" a young woman yells from the door to the roof and ducks back inside and down the stairs.

Asuka pushes off from the railing and starts walking, and Hikari follows a moment later. As they near the door, Asuka looks back past Hikari at the full moon. Smiling, her expression soft, she goes inside.


	2. Chapter 2

**Neon Genesis Evangelion**

_Pilot's Table_

By D.A.  
Beta-ed by SithKnight-Galen

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Title: You do, I do

Prompt: Set 1 / Prompt 02 (Hate)

Word Count: 900+

Rating: k+

Summary: An overheard conversation, and a missed surprise.

Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or anything connected to it.

Notes: This should be interesting… a/n at bottom.

_Okay, You may have noticed in the last chapter that I put "part one". Well, here is part two of the "Normal Life" Arc._

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"I hate this."

"Hate what?"

"This!"

"What about it?"

"It's.. it's green!"

"You don't like green?…"

"Don't look at me like that!"

"Sorry!"

"There you go again! Stop apologizing!"

"Sor- Okay."

"…better… now, help me find one in red."

"What about the one back there?"

"Wrong shade."

"But you haven't even looked at it!"

"I can tell from here."

"…"

00000

"Do ya think Asuka knows she left her phone on?" Touji quietly asked Hikari, as she walked back into their living room holding a fussy, but now sleeping, 1-yr old baby.

"We should hang up. It sounds like she doesn't know she didn't actually hang up on her end."

Touji scratches his head, then waves for her to sit.

"Nah, Shin-man hasn't been bein' to open 'bout anything the last few weeks… I think he has somethin' planned."

"You always think he has something planned," she says, eyeing him doubtfully, "Kensuke too, for that matter, but he isn't always around for you to spy on."

"Shh, they're talking again!"

00000

"Shinji…"

"Yes, Asuka?"

"What about blue?"

"Huh?"

"Real eloquent there, Shakespeare. What do you think about blue instead of red?"

"I think that one would match your eyes."

"So you do look higher than my chest."

"I'd- bu- yo-… What's that supposed to mean? I am not Touji!"

00000

Hikari arches an eyebrow and glances at Touji.

"I do NOT stare at her chest!" he retorts at the phone, then spots Hikari's look, "I know, I know. But I was fourteen! Do you see me doin' that kinda thing any more?"

"True… You don't really look at other girl's chests or butts… just mine." she finishes, giving an almost Asuka-like smirk while Touji sputters as he try to form some sort of reply or come-back.

00000

"Did you hear something?"

"No."

"Oh well. So, Blue or Red?"

"Red?"

"Blue it is then."

"Huh?"

00000

"Typical Asuka." Hikari notes, moving to set the sleeping infant in the foldaway crib next to the small sofa, then sits next to Touji who stares at the phone the same way Shinji is probably staring at Asuka: confused.

00000

"Hey, Shinji…"

"Is something wrong, Asuka?"

"Never mind, maybe later."

"Ok…"

00000

"Just hang up Touji, we aren't going to hear anything interesting. Besides, Asuka will tell me if anything happens, and I'll let you know if you're that curious."

"Alright, alright," Touji reaches over and clicks the speaker phone key, and the phone hangs up, "You're probably right, Hikari."

"Of course, now go get the door, I think I heard someone knocking."

00000000000

"You did what?!"

"I proposed! What are you, deaf?"

Hikari gaped at her friend of nine years, shock warring with glee on her face. Finally, glee won out and Hikari gathered Asuka into a hug, squealing happily like a school girl.

"I can't believe it! _You _proposed to_ him_!"

"Because I hated it."

"Hated what?" Hikari said, blinking at the sudden statement, pulling away slightly to watch her friend's expression.

"The waiting." Asuka frowned, her expression far away and almost sad, "I was tired of waiting. We'd never get married if I waited for him to change the situation."

"That's not-"

"Don't tell me that's not true. You and I both know he gets too set into a routine." Asuka then smiled, the joy seeming to flow off her as she raised her left hand, "But this time you would have been right, if I'd been just a little more patient."

And there, on her left ring finger, was an engagement ring. Hikari stared at it for a moment, then looked to Asuka.

"He just smiled at me, then got down on one knee with me and pulled out his own velvet box. I couldn't believe what I was seeing!"

"You proposed to each other!" Hikari squealed, hugging Asuka again.

"It's the weirdest feeling, Hikari. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah, yeah I do." Hikari agreed, pulling back and showing Asuka her wedding band. Asuka smirked, remembering that particular day.

"Do you think… we'll be good parents?" Asuka asked, her smirk fading to a frown and a far away look, "I think that's what I, we, hate the most. Our failed parents."

"Asuka…"

"It's ok, Hikari, you can tell me…" she said, shoulders slumping.

"You'll be great parents, Asuka," Hikari said, smiling when Asuka looked at her, "I've seen you with Rei's daughter. And we've both seen Shinji with kids at the park."

"Your right, I just…"

"One step at a time."

"Yeah. What's that sound?" Asuka asks as a faint ringing filled the quiet room.

"My cell!" Hikari yelps, then runs to the kitchen, "Hello?… Touji?… Calm down!… Better, now, say that again?"

Asuka got up from the sofa and walked over to the kitchen entrance, and watched Hikari struggle to hold in her laughter.

"No Touji, I'm not- not laughing at you. But you see, Asuka's here, and she just told me the same thing." Hikari looked to Asuka, tears of mirth in her eyes from holding in her laughter, "Yes dear, Asuka and Shinji proposed to each other right after you hung up the phone."

_AN: Yeah… I seem to be stuck on waff. Hopefully no one is high on all this sugar. Number four down, for now, and I may go back and change the last half of the chapter later. Now to set up for number five…_


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